Helicopter maker Sikorsky announced last week it would
furlough as many as 2,000 workers - including employees at its manufacturing
facilities in Troy - due to the lack of Defense Contract Management Agency
inspectors who have been home without pay since the shutdown began Oct. 1.

The Pentagon's Saturday announcement that inspectors will
return to the job as soon as Monday has prompted the Connecticut-based company
to cancel those furlough plans.

The inspectors, and other civilian Department of Defense
workers, are being brought back via a provision of the Pay our Military Act that allows civilian personnel performing essential services to return to work
with pay during the government shutdown.

"We will be bringing
those inspectors back under (the Pay Our Military Act) I hope soon and we will
be able to start the inspections at production plants that churn out
helicopters, ground vehicles, and everything else that keeps the military
humming," Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale told Defense News on Saturday.

"Without the required DCMA inspectors, who were deemed
non-essential federal employees, certain defense manufacturing work must be
halted, which will result in employee furloughs," the company said in a written statement.

If the inspectors weren't called back, as many as 5,000
additional workers at UTC's Pratt and Whitney and UTC Aerospace Systems units could have also been furloughed in the coming weeks.

Furloughs up in the air for other defense companies

Defense giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing announced last
week both companies would furlough workers if the shutdown continues. Those
furloughs were still on as of Sunday night.

Lockheed announced it would furlough as many as 3,000
workers nationwide. That number will grow if the shutdown continues, company
officials said.

The furloughs, according to a Lockheed statement "include
employees who are unable to work because the government facility where they
perform their work is closed, or their work requires a government inspection
that cannot be completed, or we've received a stop work order."